ABUJA – Save the Children, an international NGO, on Tuesday called the Federal
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Government to allocate more resources and increase political commitment to end malnutrition in Nigeria.
Dr Ibrahim Oloriegbe, National Programme Manager, Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN), made the appeal at a nutrition focused media roundtable organised by the NGO in Abuja.
He said addressing nutrition would improve economy, education and improve the overall national development.
He said government should make nutrition a very high political agenda so that every child and every woman would have access to good nutritious food.
Oloriegbe said good nutrition to a pregnant mother would prevent underweight children and also prevent many Nigerian children from having a stunted growth.
He added that a stunt child would experience brain which affects him from realising his full potential thereby undermining the national development
He said good nutrition would make children more valuable members of the community in future, making them attain their potentials in life.
He said the NGO organised the media roundtable to increase the knowledge of the media on nutrition as a developmental issue in Nigeria, so that the media can become a partner and advocate same to government.
“We are advocating to the government to increase awareness and commitment to Nutrition in Nigeria. We know a very important stakeholder in the advocacy is the media.
“They are not only a mouth piece but also a pressure group,’’ he said.
Oloriegbe said the media would also use the opportunity to improve its relationship with the organisation to achieve the common objective to making a Nigerian child to have quality and quantity nutritious food.
“We are optimistic that the roundtable discussion will help us to achieve the goal we targeted.
“The attendance is encouraging and of high quality, we also have rich contributions from many directors of news, directors of programmes from several media organisations,’’ he said.
He called on the most affected states in the northwest to commit themselves to reversing the situation, adding that the challenge is not un-surmountable and there is solution to it.
The forum adopted a six-point agenda and also agreed to meet quarterly.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that WINNN is a six-year programme funded by the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID).
It is implemented in Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Yobe and Zamfara states. (NAN)
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